It's All About Survival
by Spike868
Summary: How did Angel go from living in the Hyperion Hotel in the 1950's to living on the streets of L.A. in the 1990's? This is how.


_Summary: How does a vampire with a soul go from living in a hotel in Los Angeles during the 1950's to living on the streets in the 1990's? _

The hotel was pleasant. It smelled nice. The room he had was small yet quite comfortable and the people didn't bother him that much. He kept to himself and they let him be, until that one lady came along.

He remembered how she barged into his room one day, trying to escape from a man he didn't care to meet. She formed a fascination with him, which soon led to tragedy. She found the blood in his room and told everybody in the hotel who he really was.

A monster.

He paid the price.

Hanging seems so old-fashioned, doesn't it? Out-dated? Not enough, obviously, to be used still in the 1950's in America to punish one man. One monster.

This was the turning point for Angel. He met the real monster of the hotel, the one who haunted all the residents to make them kill themselves, but felt nothing for the humans who tried to murder him.

He didn't want to save them. He refused to help them. He gave them up, selfishly abandoning them and leaving them in the hands of a creature so vile and horrid while he escaped the threshold of the hotel-prison he had come to call home.

Home was nowhere now. In a fight for survival, Angel took to the streets. Doorsteps of townhouses lining the streets, low-hanging awnings, alleys, stairwells and underneath park bridges became temporary homes for the next 30 years, and as Angel began to distance himself from humans he found himself in a new place.

Insanity brought on by starvation; a sincere look of poverty resulting in dirty glances from upper-class men and women on the streets.

The 60's brought no change to this new life. It reminded Angel so much of when he first got his soul. 1898. The year that ruined his life.

He could have still been the most feared vampire in the world if the Roman gypsies hadn't cursed him to bear a soul. He could have enforced terror into the hearts and minds of generations of men, women and children as he paraded around the world. With Darla, Drusilla and Spike by his side he could have still been the terrifying monster that still lingered somewhere deep inside him.

But all hope for any life besides a life on the streets was gone. How long would it be before that life ended as well? Would he starve? Would sunlight finally catch up with him one day when he slept in the wrong place? Would someone or something kill him before either of those two options had a chance to happen?

The possibilities were endless but Angel knew that his life would never be anything more than what it was in those 30 years since leaving the Hyperion Hotel.

The 70's brought about a slight change, and he forced himself back into society. He scrounged for money and managed to keep himself well-clothed. He heard music, and discovered an artist named Barry Manilow. Inside a diner he chose a song by Manilow on the jukebox and basked in the glow of the music. That night at the diner changed him. After an attempted robbery, Angel found himself with a dead waiter.

Food.

Sinking his teeth into the dead man's neck, Angel found the taste of blood sweet and sickly. He hadn't drunk human blood in years... and this was just what he needed to send him spiralling.

The 80's found him again as a homeless man. He crouched on the street in his own filth, beating himself up over that night in the diner. He couldn't get over what he had done, knowing and continually telling himself that it was all his fault.

_You could have saved him. _

_You should have tried harder. _

_Why did you drink from him? _

_He was a helpless innocent and you took advantage. _

_You're a monster and it's all you'll ever be._

But when the 90's came around there was help in the form of a fellow demon. Angel had long lost contact with all humans, hiding in alleys day and night feeding off rats and other small animals.

Whistler, a good demon, came alone in the late 90's to introduce Angel to somebody special. She was gifted, strong, wilful and in need of more help than she realised. She was the Slayer, and her name was Buffy Summers.

Angel saw her; saw that she needed help and told Whistler that he wanted to make something of himself. He wanted to be the one to help her, so Whistler made it happen. His life was not pointless anymore. He had a purpose, a reason. A reason to survive.

It's all about survival.

A/N: a little idea popped into my head the other day and I decided to run with it. Feedback is much appreciated.


End file.
